Lawmakers getting involved in zoo, DIA, tax dispute

LANSING — Michigan lawmakers are getting involved in a dispute over whether communities can hold back millage money that voters approved for the Detroit Zoo and Detroit Institute of Arts.

The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/ZOVgh1 ) bills being introduced this week aim to ensure communities send the money to the zoo and museum. Republican state Rep. Eileen Kowall of Oakland County’s White Lake Township is the lead sponsor.

The bills would affect tax increment financing set up to withhold or capture some tax revenue. The money often is used for local projects.

Since 2008, more than 30 communities in Wayne County have held back nearly $800,000 in money collected for the zoo. Voters that year in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties passed the zoo tax. The museum millage was approved in November.